Conveyor belts of this type are known, in which the support elements are platelike and are dimensioned so that they follow one another on straight sections of the conveyor belt path of movement without any distance from one another which would be worth mentioning. In the case of curvatures in the path, however, gaps appear between the plates. Such belts are therefore as a rule used for conveying articles only on straight path sections. Many conveyed goods, for example flexible filled packaging bags, cannot be conveyed in regions of the belt in which slots are formed between the support elements, since the danger of jamming and pinching exists.
In the case of conveying flexible packaging bags, it is often necessary to shape the bags so that they can be moved without any difficulty into a narrow outer packaging, for example a box. To achieve this, a conveyor belt has already been constructed (see German Pat. No. 25 43 707) in which compartments for bags are formed by two L-shaped parts which are respectively secured on two belt sections, namely a lower belt and an upper belt, and which are moved relative to one another so that they increasingly narrow down the receiving space for the bag. Such a construction requires a considerable construction expense.
Also known are conveyor belts with U-shaped compartments (also called cups) which are secured directly to chains. Such conveyor belts have the disadvantage that the large weight of the cups results in an uneven operation due to the action of forces produced by the mass thereof.
Further known are link belts of plastic, in which the support elements serve at the same time as chain links. The solidity and strength of such belts is relatively low, so that belts of long length are not possible with this construction. However, long belt lengths are often needed in packaging plants, for example where items from several filling machines such as tube-bag machines are to be brought to a cartoning station.
A basic purpose of the invention is to construct a conveyor belt of the above-mentioned type so that, on one hand, it can be built with great length and, on the other hand, substantially continuous bearing surface is maintained in concave or convex sections of the track. Through a further development of the invention, a conveyor belt capable of shaping packages such as flexible filled packaging bags is to be provided.